Thin strengthened glass substrates, such as chemically- or thermally-strengthened substrates have found wide-spread application in consumer electronics because of their excellent strength and damage resistance. For example, such glass substrates may be used as cover substrates for LCD and LED displays and touch applications incorporated in mobile telephones, display devices such as televisions and computer monitors, and various other electronic devices. To reduce manufacturing costs, it may be desirable that such glass substrates used in consumer electronics devices be formed by performing thin film patterning for multiple devices on a single large glass substrate, then sectioning or separating the large glass substrate into a plurality of smaller glass substrates using various cutting techniques.
However, the magnitude of compressive stress and the elastic energy stored within a central tension region may make cutting and finishing of chemically- or thermally-strengthened glass substrates difficult. The high surface compression and deep compression layers make it difficult to mechanically scribe the glass substrate as in traditional scribe-and-bend processes. Furthermore, if the stored elastic energy in the central tension region is sufficiently high, the glass may break in an explosive manner when the surface compression layer is penetrated. In other instances, the release of the elastic energy may cause the break to deviate from a desired separation path. Accordingly, a need exists for alternative methods for separating strengthened glass substrates.